Baby Homeschool: Week 19 (4 months, 2 weeks old)

Damien is 4 months, 2 weeks old [19 weeks].

October 15-21, 2011

Stage II-III on Developmental Profile

Some highlights of another beautiful week with a beautiful boy:

• His balance while sitting up has improved. He can now sit for close to a minute sometimes, versus 10-20 seconds last week.
• Everything goes straight to his mouth. He snatches things up and into his mouth it goes!
• He remains "close" to crawling [creeping]. Every once in a while he gets up on his hands and knees.
• He loves his family member name reading words.
• He is taking great naps.

 Motor

(Mobility) Damien has his usual floor routine during the day, which involves lots of "push ups" and "air swimming" (tummy on the ground with arms and legs in the air).

Quite a few times this week he has gotten up on his hands and knees. Still no creeping though!

His forward motion seems to be limited, but he gets around, mostly by moving in circles, scooting backwards, and rolling. He still doesn't spend much time in the crawling track anymore.

(Manual) He is pretty good at quickly grabbing stuff with both hands. He seems to prefer his right hand and leg, which has been the case since birth. Everything goes straight to his mouth! I have been trying to provide him with lots of graspable toys (and non-toy household items).

He still loves doing "up up" and hanging onto our fingers while we lift him up.

(Balance) No Doman balance activities this week. :( He spent some good time being carried in the sling, though. His sitting has improved to durations of 30-60 seconds sometimes though. He continues to prefer being on his tummy.

(Swimming) Not much swimming this week. We had one halfway bathtub swimming session.

Playing with spoons on the Boppy.. which he crawled out of after about 5 seconds

 Sensory

(Visual) We did our family member name reading words again this week, a few times. I would really like to start our reading program next week! He is getting so big and is so curious and interested in everything.

(Tactile) Lots of toys to play with but no Doman sensory. I would like to start doing contrasting textures this week.

(Auditory) Again, a fail on the Doman programs. But we have been talking a lot and naming sounds and objects. He lights up every time someone talks to him.

Favorite bedtime story, Goodnight Moon

 Cognitive

(Language) His most recent reoccuring utterances are "ah BLAH" (which sounds exactly like the Spanish "habla", aka "speech") and even more exciting, "Dada". He has been saying both all week, along with lots of "g" sounds and vowel sounds. Hasn't been blowing razzes like he was last week.

We have been working on having lots of face-to-face conversations. No journaling this week.

(Sign language) "Daddy", "Mommy", "potty", and "nurse". I also signed his name for him a couple times (finger spelling) which he seemed to be fascinated by.

 Sleep, Eating, Elimination

(Sleep) One of his biggest improvements this week was in sleeping. Or I should say, my biggest improvement.

Although I definitely miss those sweet days where he would gladly fall asleep for a peaceful nap on my chest, or cuddling on the couch, or wherever, he will now only fall asleep (and stay asleep) in his bassinet.

And won't let me rock him to sleep. I just have to lay him down, give him his pacifier, and let him fall asleep on his own. Sometimes he needs a little patting on the back but usually he just wants to be left alone!

The good news is, though, that now he has been taking one to two hour naps on average now (rather than 20-30 minutes), and has been a much happier baby.

(Eating) Nursing is going well. The improved sleep schedule has meant for a much more regular, three-hour average nursing schedule. We are waiting until closer to six months old to introduce any solids.

(Elimination) He has had a very odd elimination pattern this week. Basically, most days he has had only ONE huge bowel movement and usually first thing in the morning. Didn't use the potty all that much, but a few times were a success.

"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." 

Luke 2:4

Damien was 19 weeks old this week